emotional technology

war is a process of structured emotional transfer

every rocket from gaza into israel carries a payload of fear, anger, and hatred. the principal of “equal and opposite reaction” means that the rocket ejects a trail of hope, anger, and hatred back into gaza. you thought kindness was the opposite of anger? fuck you! there is no logic to anger.

the rockets are fueled by “we have no jobs, no freedom, no dignity, they killed my brother, how else would you respond to this?” they fly through the air, carrying some of this anger and rage and hopelessness out of palestine – dumping it into israel.

the israelis aren’t hopeless, like the palestinians are, which means they can hold more of that negative emotion. it’s carried from palestine on rockets, and dumped unceremoniously wherever those rockets land. sometimes into empty streets, and sometimes into crowded shops. children standing near the rocket carry that fear and hatred with them, and hand it off to grown children in uniforms. the fear is then written into papers and stuffed into filing cabinets about acceptable losses and daily rattled nerves and my children are afraid, all of which are categorized by men in suits, carried away in briefcases, the crying on mute because israeli televisions have fine-tuned volume controls, allowing some semblance of normal daily life.

this negative emotion exported from gaza via rocket piles up in israel, festering in mighty tanks of despair and frustration, pain and anger, until “they will never stop shooting at us, we must do something” wins out over “no matter how carefully we act, innocents will die, and we will be hated.” the negative emotion is returned to palestine, in huge chunks, as carefully as you can deliver white phosphorus to gunmen shooting from hospitals.

who’s fault is it? fuck you, that’s whose fault it is.

i’m sorry to swear. i just wish people would see the emotional dynamics at play, and focus on attenuating those. “you would do the same” is a plea for empathy. hear it, always – especially if it makes you angry. when you think “we have the right”, it is always an excuse for you not to empathize. hear that, too – but please, don’t listen. “we have the right” is almost physically identical to “we are right.” insist on empathy.

this blood feud has been going on for five hundred million years and we aren’t going to solve it by justifying our anger – even though it is justified. maybe we can never get rid of this toxic stuff from our world. maybe all we can do is try to bear an equal share of pain in our hearts. i know i can never truly smile when there are children suffering from things they don’t understand – and we are all children of the stars.